Sweetwater Wait Time

[d0uble0Evan]

Hello RRF community!

I ordered a 330/6 in Fireglo through Sweetwater at the beginning of May (my first Rick). My Sweetwater rep gave me an estimate wait time of 4-5 months which is giving me a great chance to practice my eager patience. I look forward to cracking open that case and seeing/playing it for the first time.

Has anyone ordered their Rick through Sweetwater recently or in times past? Is this wait time a safe estimate or fairly accurate? Thanks for the opportunity to voice our mutual interests RRF community and entertaining me while I wait!

[jdogric12]

Welcome Evan. Clever username! I like it.

It varies. I wouldn't think a 330 would take too terribly long, but yeah it could be a few months.

[chrisdski]

I’m have a AFG 4005xc on order thru sweetwater. I received an email yesterday letting me know it will probably be next March before I receive it.

[drumbob]

I would call Rickenbacker personally and ask them, because I don't trust Sweatwater's ETA dates at all, much as I generally don't trust them for anything.

The estimate you received sounds like something your "sales engineer" pulled out of his a$$ to keep you happy. Rickenbacker wait times are traditionally over a year to eighteen months.

[jdogric12]

I’m have a AFG 4005xc on order thru sweetwater. I received an email yesterday letting me know it will probably be next March before I receive it.

Hopefully that is just a matter of CYA. Lots of folks have gotten theirs already.

[jdogric12]

I would call Rickenbacker personally and ask them

I'll respectfully advise against this... it won't change when you get it, which hopefully won't change the fact that you still want it, and any time RIC spends answering emails is time they aren't making guitars.

Now, some of you are going to say "Hey Jason you dumb***, the people making the guitars don't answer emails, a customer service person does" but trust me, it all adds up and makes a difference, more-so with a super small staff like RIC has (compared to say Gender or Fibson). So I don't bug 'em if I don't have to.

[chrisdski]

I’m have a AFG 4005xc on order thru sweetwater. I received an email yesterday letting me know it will probably be next March before I receive it.

Hopefully that is just a matter of CYA. Lots of folks have gotten theirs already.

Maybe. I ordered mine on the last day of the 2 week offering, so maybe that’s where it will fall in their manufacturing schedule. Either way, looking forward to getting mine.

[d0uble0Evan]

Thank you for all of the opinions and advice so far. Please keep your comments coming as any experience is appreciated. I have no problem waiting as I know it will be worth it. It is a pretty cool feeling knowing that someone right now or soon is making a guitar for me that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

And you better believe I will post pictures of it in this thread and establish my profile picture with one of them whenever it finally comes in.

[jdogric12]

I placed a single order of 5 (for me and some friends) on Jan 25th (about halfway through the 2 week period, I believe) and 2 have arrived. A 3rd also arrived but it had some defects so my retailer gave me the opportunity to pass on it and simply wait for another. A little bird told me the next person "in line" accepted the one with the defect so thankfully the last person in line isn't getting stuck.

I've also purchased 1 from a Reverb seller (technically used) and 1 from a dealer who actually wasn't gouging, a pleasant surprise. So they are getting out there!

(and no I'm not keeping all these - I already resold 1 for the price I paid)

[Ratwax]

Hi Evan, Sweetwater, like all dealers, wait on RIC build times. They tend to do job lots of models then colours and fill their outstanding orders on those in one fell swoop. I'm noticing 330/6s in Fireglo starting to filter throuh to some dealers in just the last week, so Sweetwater shouldn't be too far behind. As they come in, get unboxed, QC'd an photo'd they should be visible here; https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ne-fireglo

Cheers,

Andrew

[d0uble0Evan]

Hi Evan, Sweetwater, like all dealers, wait on RIC build times. They tend to do job lots of models then colours and fill their outstanding orders on those in one fell swoop. I'm noticing 330/6s in Fireglo starting to filter throuh to some dealers in just the last week, so Sweetwater shouldn't be too far behind. As they come in, get unboxed, QC'd an photo'd they should be visible here; https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... ne-fireglo

Thank you for your response. This reminds me of another question that maybe you or someone in this post can answer for me. I have been paying attention to the "REGISTER" page on this forum when new guitars come in to Sweetwater (Indiana). Do you know if my guitar serial number will reflect being registered by Sweetwater like the other guitars that come in? If that is true, when I receive my guitar will I need to register it as belonging to me or will that be redundant?

[jdogric12]

Sweetwater isn't registering Ricks on RRF, members here are going and getting the publicly shared info and putting it in themselves as "CI" collected instruments. If you don't want your serial number trawled like that (I wouldn't) I would contact my Sweetwater rep and ask they not list the guitar you have on order publicly on their site (they may not do that anyway - it would only make sense to me to list unclaimed ordered instruments as they arrive, but I don't know so it may be worth asking to be sure.

[d0uble0Evan]

Just thought I'd give an update on this topic for record just in case there are any readers who are also waiting on an order through Sweetwater like myself. At the time of order (5/3/21) my sales rep gave me an estimate of 4-5 months. Yesterday he gave me an update of a now mid-December arrival. This order is for a 330/6 Fireglo. Others might have different estimates depending on the model of course. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know.

[jdogric12]

Very interesting. I wonder how the wood shortage is affecting them.

[WillyWonka]

wood shortage...

2784574_web1_ptr-beavisButthead-070220.jpg

Personally I'd call Wildwood...